Ethereum broke $2,000... Standard Chartered: "It will go to $40,000 by 2030"

▲ Ethereum (ETH)

While Ethereum's investment sentiment has been shaken by the collapse of the $2,000 mark, Standard Chartered reaffirmed its $40,000 forecast for 2030, reiterating its argument for a 20-fold increase.

According to crypto media outlet BeInCrypto on May 28 (local time), Standard Chartered reaffirmed its year-end price target for Ethereum (ETH) at $4,000 for 2026 and $40,000 for 2030. Although Ethereum fell below the $2,000 mark for the first time since late March, Standard Chartered did not withdraw its long-term outlook.

Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered's Global Head of Digital Assets Research, compared Ethereum's bearish trend to Amazon's stock plunge during the dot-com bubble collapse in 2001 in a report distributed to clients. Kendrick diagnosed that token prices are moving separately while internal network metrics are improving. He stated, “We see Ethereum's trend as very similar to how Jeff Bezos explained Amazon's stock price during the tech bubble collapse in 2001.”

According to the report, Ethereum's transaction count and Total Value Locked (TVL) remain near all-time highs on the Ethereum network. In contrast, its price has fallen 57% from its peak of $4,946 recorded in August 2025. Kendrick predicted that the stablecoin market capitalization could increase sixfold by the end of 2028, and the tokenized real-world assets market could expand 50-fold during the same period. He believes Ethereum will capture a 50% to 65% share in both sectors.

Following the price plunge, retail investors flocked to buy the dip, but institutional capital flows moved in the opposite direction. Santiment analyzed that as the psychological support level of $2,000 broke, retail investors' buy-the-dip orders surged. Santiment analysts stated, "After falling below a key psychological support level, mentions of retail investors buying the dip exploded for Ethereum," adding, "When the crowd is overly optimistic, prices generally have room for further decline."

On Polymarket, there's a 54% chance reflected that Ethereum will close below $1,500 by the end of this year, with a trading volume of $6.4 million for this bet. Increased open interest and positive funding rates are creating exposure to a short squeeze worth approximately $2 billion. BeInCrypto reported that this risk could increase if Ethereum reclaims the $2,000 mark. David Hoffman, co-founder of Bankless, argued that value is accumulating not in Ethereum itself, but in apps and Layer 2s.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*